Evening Star Newspaper, January 12, 1932, Page 6

THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C., TUESDAY, JANUARY 1932. Maj. Morgan to Speak. —_— Maj, Sidney Morgan, secretary of the TS United States Tariff Commission, will frightful complication, wearies and Grass Fires Kill Sheep. be guest speaker tomorrow night at the even bores many. SIDNEY (N.AN.A) —Grass fires have e As a performance outslde of the|humed more than 450,000 acres in o matter of length and breadth, it is o ar) s Association, eld | Western New South Wales, With an es- | in Hutet Hall ofr the tniversity campus, a most satisfactory offering. The play, staged by Robert Edmond Jones, both |timated loss of 47,000 shee; The meéeting will open at 8 o'clock. A6 *% 7 better for the dinner that is partaken |ing commendable things with their in the intermission of an hour. The |lives. G. A L. third, while awaited with curiosity | for the sake of its final solution of a FREE PARKING WITH ANY SERVICE CLAIM TWO LIVES Reviews and News of Washington's Theaters. Nine Others Injured—Winds and Rain Cause Havoc in West. By the Associated Press KANSAS CITY, January 12.—It is| & Winter of surprises. High winds and heavy rainfall scrawled complications into the seasonal plot in the West yesterday. A tornado killed a Mexican woman and her baby on a_plantation south of Eagle Lake Tex. Nine persons were injured by that tornado and another which struck west of Hockley, Tex Winds which reached a velocity of more than 60 miles an hour swept the Northwest. They broke windows, lev- tled wire lines, small buildings and sign boards and made hill roads dan- gerous Heavy rains caused earth slides upon highways and railways in Idaho, Washington and _ British Columbia Dust clouds impeded tr: in Great Falls, Mont., which was without street lights last night The chinook winds melted snow blankets in Idaho and Mo In Helena, Mont., the temperat 55 degrees above zero, m: warmest January 11 on re The 7-year-old son of W of Livingston, Mont., failing in an at- tempt to peddle his bicycle on a high- way against the wind, turned about and coasted with it. He roll before turning in to the friendly rancher and a tclephone Meanwhile, ‘ar to the south, a bliz- sard whipped up snowdrifts 6 feet deep in the streets of Raton, N. Mex MISSOUR! PACIFIC ROAD TO HAVE TWO DISTRICTS Executive Control to Be at Kansas City and Little Rock, Un- der New Plan. By the Associated Press ST LOUIS, January 12—The Mis- wour! Pacific Railroad will be divided into two districts for operation pur- poses, it was announced at the head- quarters of the road here Officers of the road said the Kansas City-Joplin division and the St. Louis- Kansas City division will go under ex- ecutive control of the general superin- tendent at Kansas City, while the St. | Louis-Poplar Bluff and Illinois lines will be placed under supervision of the gen- eral superintendent at Little Rock, Ark. The changes were made in the interests of centralization and economy. ‘The various divisions of the road will remain unchanged, the announcement said. The operative management of the road, 8o far as St. Louis is concerned, will be unchanged, as there has been no general superintendent here for more than & year. The remaining parts of the railroad had already been placed under control of Kansas City and Little Rock. TURKEY ADOPTS SUNDAY Calendar Reform Will Make Sab- bath First Day of Week. ANGORA (®)—The Turkish govern- ment s planning & calendar reform which would make Sunday the first day of the week instead of Friday, observed as the Sabbath now by 225, 000,000 Moslems of the world. There Eugene O'Neill's Tragedy, “Mourning Becomes Electra.” IT would be interesting to ascertain, by & poll, just how many of the capacity audience at the National Theater yes- terday, beginning at 5:30 in the after- noon and continuing until 11:30 at night, knew just exactly what Eugene O'Neill was seek- ing in his writing of the play that, to the mystification of a portion of his audiences, has been named “Mourning Becomes Electra.” Those who invested in an additional quarter could get the souvenir book- let that gave the genesis of the drama. Those who contented them- selves with the mere program of the house were left 'n- informed, save for what_reading they had been doing in advance, regarding the stunt that the playwright had set for himself. For, with every regard for the supreme artistry of the work, from the point of view of dramatic construc- tion and character creation, it remains a stunt, and no less, to have adapted the ancient Greek formula of the trilogy to virtually modern conditions. Greek drama has been studied but little in recent years, and there is at least a full generation, perhaps two, of theater- goers who have heard only remotely of Sophocles, despite the fact that he was the most prolific playwright of his age, with no less than 130 dramas to his credit. The elementals of human emotion and the reactions of people upon one another are undoubtedly the same now that they were 23 or 24 centuries ago. The crimes they commit are about the same in character, with only modern variations, due to improvements in lethal weapons and agencies. Their loves aud lusts and their vices are basically unchanged. Therefore, when & playwright chooses vice and crime for his theme he can with perfect certi- tude of psychological propriety set his play for 400 or 500 years before Christ or in this day of radio, television and flying. If he chooses to make his play triple-jointed instead of a single dra- matic unit, he is warranted within the limits of his audience’s patience and endurance. Eugene O'Neill has presented for his three-part drama a well-to-do family of the highest social standing in a New England town of the middle six- ties of the past century, just at the close of the Civil War. He has selected Florence Reed. adultery, murder, vengeance and incest as his prime promptings for the doings of these people, father and mother, son and daughter. Out of this material he has wrought, in effect, three plays, | closely united and played as one, which are masterpieces of technical dramatic construction, the whole being the most remarkable playwriting produced by an American for a great many years. Some enthusiasts may think for all time. After the first play or part yesterday | | at the New Natfonal, the effect was of | | the doings in a laboratory of research. One seemed to be looking on at & serfes of experiments. At times it | seemed as though white-gowned med- ical men were engaged in dissection work and the odor of disinfectants could almost be sensed | With his customary freedom of | | speech, O'Neill employs freely in these | united plays of the language that sol- | diers and sailors use, men such as those who appear in stressful circum- | stances in the trilogy. Very little is left to the imagination. Even in the occasional comedy which is employed, gulle after the ancient fashion for relief” purposes now and then, there is a breadth that, while it raises the expected laugh from the audience, leaves it sorry that such words should have obtruded "into an otherwise ar- tistic scene. However, that is O'Neill's way He believes In using raw ma- terials. He certainly uses them in “Electra.” But about that name “Electra?” Of course, there is no such person in the plays. O'Neill has simply adapted the name into his title from the old Sopho- cles title. “Electra” is actually Lavinia Mannon, daughter of the house, the nemesis of the wrongdoers, herself evil of spirit and the final survivor of this unpleasant group, who immures herself for the remainder of her life in the family mansion, rather greedily taking upon herself the crimes that have been committed there and else- where. Not at all an agreeable per- | son, even in her most gracious aspect, |in the first portion of the final play. The two men of the family are the most nearly normal, father and son. In both, however, is a taint of latent, though never fully revealed vileness. The former is poisoned by his wife at | the end of the first play and the latter dies by his own hand, driven by his sister's scheming, in the last play. Be- |tween these two tragedies are two | others, one & murder and the other a | suicide. | _ Does this make for entertainment? It is tremendously interesting as a protracted inquest into crime. The first play holds everybody tense. The | second "lets them ~down somewhat | through repetition, though borne the 66 in the “road” version and the original presentation which is still running in New York, is lovely to see, in its sim- plicity and harmony of scene and set- ting. The direction, conducted in both instances by Philip Moeller, is worthy of the highest commendation. It is indeed in some respécts even superior | to the materials offered by the play- | wright. | The Theater Guild, which is pro- ducing the play, has given the “road’ the benefit of & remarkably competent cast. Florence Reed as the mother and Judith Anderson as the daughter are supremely effective in their work, consistent, faithful to their types, con- vincing and adept in every situation. Upon the latter falls the heaviest bur- den. She carries through all three of the plays, the only one of the major | characters thus to complete the cycle. | Especially strong is she in her silences, | accusative, searching, condemnatory. | One eplsode stands out for its empha- sis, the meeting of the mother and the daughter the morning after the murder | of the husband and father. Lavinia, | slready more than suspicious, indeed possessing proof of her mother’s gullt, | faces her on the steps of the mansion, which serves as a rostrum for much of the action, and without word or gesture | charges her with the crime. Conscience and fear are terribly revealed by this| mute indictment. O'Neill has reached | in this one scene perhaps the highest | point in his work. | The men in the chief roles of the cast are fully equal to the demands of | this morbid story. Thurston Hall as| Gen. Mannon, Crane Wilbur as Capt. Adam Brant, Walter Abel as Orin Mennon, Mr, Abel's role is particu- larly difficult, with alternate lethargy and raging fevolt. Lesser parts are satisfactorily assigned to Seth Arnold, who serves as a modern “Chorus”; Eric Kalkhurst, Bernice Elliott, Harry Hermsen, George Callahan, Beatrice Moreland and Beatrice Maude. “Mourning Becomes Electra” takes its pecullar title from the sense of the word mourning, that it befits or be- comes Electra, or Lavinia, to mourn. It 1s her destinly. Black is becoming to her in that it is her fate. For a brief period she wears color, when she emerges for a little time from her role as nemesis and is set toward such happiness as her strange nature permits Many problems are presented by this play. Are they so interesting that they command the fatiguing attention of six hours of enactment? That is to be an- swered only by those who have sufficient | curlosity to see what O'Neill has most recently wrought in his laboratory. Probably most of those who went yes- terday are wishing that some day this master dramatist would turn his crafts- | manship to the creation of something agreeable, about wholesome people, do- ! There's a world of winter comfort in Bayer Aspirin tablets. If you take them only to break-up calds, you know only half the story. Three tablets crushed in a little water will relieve the sorest throat with one good gargle. That's what the specialists use in cases of sore throat. That's what you ought to use at home—every time you want throat comfort and protection from infection. Remember, every case of tonsilitis began with just a sore throat! Don't neglect any sore throat. Gargle with Bayer Aspirin at the first tickling felt. Take a couple of tablets for that headache that comes with a cold—for neuralgia, neuritis, or similar pain. If it's genvuine Bayer, it can't hurt the heart, 'BAYERE)ASPIRIN AUTO LAUNDRIES Between K and L on 17th YOUR CARST] WASHED CLEAN Not the hurried laundry wash—but a GENUINE GARAGE WASH; complete car thoroughly cleaned and looking its best LUBRICATING—GREASING—POLISHING TOP DRESSING—UPHOLSTERY CLEANING CRANK CASE SERVICE MOTOR AND CHASSIS CLEANING Efficient Service Maximum Speed Reasonable Prices Parking—2 Hours, 25¢; All Day, 45¢ THE MOST CONVENIENT DOWNTOWN LOCATION OFFICIAL Paul €. McBlroy, Pres. 1017-19 17th $¢. N.W. W. P. Gundry, Sect.-Fremsurer Me. 9690 “Keeping Up With the Jones”— ‘Full Page in Colors Every Sunday was afraid Crandfatber — would be Docked. prove that Chesterfield tobaccos are better. They taste better...that’s proof enough. Never too sweet. No matter when I smoke them... or how many I smoke...they alwavs taste "HE’S rather a bossy old darling, and I didn’t know how he’d like the idea of my smoking. “The first time I lit a Chesterfield in front good things udo'hn_« when sweet- ened with Powdered Sugar. When you use JACK FROST POWDERED SUGAR you know you are using PURE CANE SUGAR _Made in modem refiner- ies, packed in distin.tive senitary cartons, and un- touched by human hands. There’s a Jack Frost Sugar for every purpose. Ask for it by name. Don’t miss ““Melody Moments'” this Wednesday Evening 8:30 E.S. T over this N. 8.C. Choin. WiZ, WHAM, WBAL, KDKA, WGAR, WLS, WIR, WILW. of him, he sniffed was, ‘That’s good course—but I do too many. like an old war-horse. .. and I braced myself for trouble. But all he said tobacco, Chickabiddy.’ “But I still think that if he hadn’t been so impressed by the quality of Chesterfield, the old dear might have been less agreeable. Human nature is like that! “Grandfather raised tobacco in his younger days, so he knows what’s what. I don't, of know that Chesterfields are milder. It’s wonderful to be able to smoke whenever you want, with no fear youll smoke “And it doesn’t take a tobacco expert to @ Wrapped in Du Pont Number 300 Moisture -proof Cellophane . . . the best and most expensive made! a exactly right. “They must be absolutely pure...even to the paper which doesn’t taste at all. In fact... as the ads say ... They Satisfy!’” © 1932, Licerrr & Myeag Tosacco Cos CHESTERFIELD'S RADIO PROGRAM Nat Shilkret’s Orchestra and Alex Gray, well-known soloist, will enter- tain you over the Columbia Coast- to-Coast Network every night, ex- cept Sunday, at 10:30 E. S. T.